Sport for Development and Peace United Purpose Capability Statement
United Purpose & International Inspiration United Purpose (UP) has 40 years’ experience of working in partnership to challenge poverty and inequality. We take a holistic, integrated approach to development and we support practical actions that enable people to take a lead in improving their lives. We also recognise that we are all stronger and more effective when we work in partnership with others. As a result, we are proactive about joining together with organisations whose skills, experience and expertise enhance and compliment our own. With this in mind, in 2016, International Inspiration (IN), the innovative sport for development charity, became part of the United Purpose family, bringing a wealth of experience in using sport to help inspire and equip young people to rewrite the future. International Inspiration was founded on the promise that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games would inspire a generation through sport. As a central part of the 2012 Olympic legacy, the International Inspiration Programme used sport to reach over 25 million children, train over 250,000 local leaders and influenced 55 national policies and strategies across 19 countries. From this experience, it was clear that sport had a powerful role to play in engaging, equipping and empowering disenfranchised young people in development and peace processes, and IN quickly built its expertise and experience in optimising the power of sport to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The merger between IN and United Purpose is the first of its kind, creating the ground-breaking opportunity to explore the strategic integration of sport within a wide range of development programmes. United Purpose is now uniquely positioned to build on 40 years of development experience with innovative ways to engage the next generation in building a future where there is justice, dignity and respect for all.
Why youth?
Why sport?
The world is currently home to the highest number of young people in human history. There are around 1.8 billion young people in the world, 89% of whom live in contexts where poverty is highest, access to health care and education are lowest and conflict and violence are most frequent. Over a billion children and young people are growing up surrounded by poverty, conflict and injustice. Every day this shapes the way they see the world and understand their role within it. Young people are a crucial force for making the world a better, safer, fairer place and yet so many are struggling to survive, feeling increasingly marginalised and are at growing risk of radicalization. In 2015, the UN Security Council recognised this situation as a serious threat to global stability and pressed member states to take urgent steps to improve the participation and protection of young people in order to prevent a growing trend of radicalisation. There is a pressing need to find new and better ways of working with young people.
Integrating sport within community-based aid and development programmes provides a unique and innovative way to engage young people on their own terms – using sport as a tool to help create a safe, dynamic and interactive learning environment, where young people can grow in confidence, explore their identity, discuss the challenges they face, access vital information, form friendships and develop a wide range of essential life skills. Sport is particularly effective at reaching out to marginalised groups, especially disenfranchised young people, in some of the world’s most remote, insecure and challenging contexts. The social capital and relationships of trust that sport fosters also make it an extremely effective vehicle for tackling highly sensitive issues and deeply rooted negative social norms, in a non-confrontational way. Sport is a proven and cost-effective way to empower and equip disenfranchised young people to be a force for global good.
Our Approach UP’s Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) approach tackles the impact of poverty, injustice and insecurity on disenfranchised youth by using sport to:
Improve quality of life Increase access to opportunity Empower young people to make informed decisions about their futures
Our SDP programmes are designed in partnership with local organisations, directly responding to the needs of young people and the challenges they face. Given the diversity of contexts, issues and interests, our SDP work is highly varied in nature – using a range of culturally appropriate sports to address critical issues including: health; education; girls’ empowerment; disability inclusion; gender-based violence (GBV); youth employment; life skills; and leadership development. This flexible, “bottom-up” approach enables us to really come along side young people – meeting them where they are, listening to their needs and working with local partners to respond. Our SDP programmes provide compelling evidence that sport can make a meaningful contribution to sustainable development and reach marginalised young people where other approaches fail. However, IN’s previous experience also highlighted 3 substantial barriers to successfully maximising the impact of SDP and taking it to scale, namely:
Limited access to capacity-building support for grassroots SDP organisations—particularly in the critical areas of: inclusion; child safeguarding; programme management; design, monitoring and evaluation (DM&E); and sustainability. Underinvestment in identifying innovative, localised approaches and developing scalable, transferable models for replication and adaptation. Lack of strategic integration and coordination between the worlds of sport, SDP and aid and development.
Responding to these challenges and building on IN’s experience, United Purpose aims to promote the strategic integration of sport into international development efforts by: using SDP to enhance the impact of its programmes; developing scalable SDP approaches and sharing good practice; seeking to engage the world of sport in supporting development efforts; strengthening the capacity of grassroots civil society to work with young people through sport; and empowering young people to take an active and informed lead in shaping the future of their world.
Our Impact Programme Highlights Empowering girls
Tackling Gender-Based Violence
The Go Sisters project works with girls and young women across 5 provinces in Zambia using netball to promote gender empowerment and greater equality of opportunities. The programme uses community netball leagues to establish leadership development pathways for marginalised girls, helping them grow in confidence, develop life skills, improve their literacy and access vocational & entrepreneurial training. Girls’ rights are also promoted within communities.
In rural Zambia UP is supporting a powerful programme that tackles the cultural and social causes of GBV by using community football leagues to engage boys and young men in preventing GBV. Integrating GBV awareness into regular football sessions, the programme establishes a safe space for the next generation of men to: explore positive forms of masculinity; learn about GBV; establish positive attitudes to women; and begin respecting, protecting & promoting women’s right to live free from violence.
Redefining Gender Norms
Equipping Girls for Life
In Dholpur, India, the Safe Spaces project is using kabaddi to challenge negative attitudes and transform gender relations, in a context where gender inequality is deeply entrenched in every area of life. Traditionally a male-dominated sport, kabaddi sessions are used to help girls reclaim public spaces, challenge stereotypes and come together to learn more about topics relevant to their wellbeing, including early marriage, GBV and sexual and reproductive rights.
Moving the Goalposts uses football to promote marginalised girls’ personal, educational, physical and financial development. Through regular football sessions and peer support, the project works to help girls and young women have improved access to education and training, learn about reproductive health, meet positive role models and be equipped with the skills to gain financial independence. Community tournaments also tackle harmful practices & attitudes against women and girls.
Promoting Health & Education
Disability Inclusion
Court of Dreams is a creative and unique programme that uses tennis to work with young children growing up in the Kibera slum of Nairobi. The project helps to improve performance and attendance at school, and addresses retention and return to education for children who face barriers to remaining in school. Bringing learning to life, tennis-based sessions also promote safe WASH practices to reduce the risk & spread of water-borne diseases.
This innovative programme in Bahir, Ethiopia, worked with community coaches to provide local level inclusive sport sessions—promoting social inclusion and empowering young people with disabilities to take an active role in community life and decision making processes. The approach was highly successful in dispelling myths and challenging negative stereotypes about disability within local communities and regional institutions. A great example of using of sport to ensure that no one is left behind.
Our Experience Country
Title
Focus
Partner
Donor
Amount Years
Kenya
Court of Dreams
WASH & Education
Sadili Oval
Comic Relief
£150,052 2016-2020
Kenya
Pathway to Bridges Girls’ Empowerment Moving the & GBV Prevention Goalposts (MTG)
Comic Relief
£816,083 2016-2021
India
Safe Spaces
Girls’ Sexual & Reproductive Rights
Zambia
Go Sisters
Girls’ Empowerment EduSport
Comic Relief
Zambia
STOP GBV
GBV Prevention
Sport in Action
DfID/USAID/ $113,514 2014-2017 Sport in Action
Ethiopia
Sport for Inclusive Development
Disability Inclusion
Cheshire Comic Relief Foundation Action for Inclusion
£238,798 2013-2016
Tanzania
AWF Women’s Leadership Project
Leadership Development
National Sports Council Tanzania
Anita White Foundation
£6,000
Ghana Jamaica Bangladesh
Access and Empowerment
Social Inclusion & Livelihoods
Alive & Kicking Development Options Alive & Kicking
Comic Relief
£250,000 2014-2016
India
SPLASH
Drowning Prevention
Rashtriya Life Sav- Speedo ing Society India
Mozambique Football for Development
Health, Leadership & Life Skills
Tico School Foundation
Zambia
Go Sisters
Girls’ Empowerment EduSport
DfID
£500,000 2008-2012
Kenya
Pathways Project
Girls’ Empowerment MTG
Comic Relief
£298,058 2011-2015
Education
British Council
Health
UK Sport
Premier League £40 Million DfID
Azerbaijan, International Bangladesh, Inspiration Brazil, Egypt, Programme Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Zambia
International Pentland Centre for ReBrands search on Women Limited
£150,000 2015-2018
£581,623 2013-2018
£140,000 2013-2015
Premier League £11,000
Equality & Inclusion UNICEF
DCMS
Empowerment
GE Foundation
Employment
Comic Relief Laureus Sport for Good Foundation British Council UNICEF LOCOG
2015-2016
2013-2015
2007-2014
References Coalter F & Taylor J (2010) Sport-for-development impact study: A research initiative funded by Comic Relief and UK Sport and managed by International Development through Sport. Comic Relief. UK Sport. Department of Sports Studies, University of Stirling. Commonwealth Secretariat (2015), Sport for Development and Peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Ecorys UK, (2014) Final Evaluation of the International Inspiration Programme.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The State of the World’s Population 2014, ‘The power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, you and the transformation of the future’ United Nations Security Resolution 2250, 2015
United Purpose, 14 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ | 02920 220 066 www.united-purpose.org Registered in England & Wales with Charity No. 272465 and Company No. 1278887